


Say Hello to Me Tomorrow

by AstraKiseki



Category: Exalted
Genre: Arcane Fate's a Bitch, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Sidereals, Solars, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-18
Updated: 2012-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstraKiseki/pseuds/AstraKiseki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Promises are promises, even if fate wipes them away. Sometimes they are bound by a ribbon of hope so bright that even chaos can't destroy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say Hello to Me Tomorrow

Walk rigidly, do not speak, and above all, for the love of Mars, stop gawking.  
  
Nave Evian, the Crimson Guard, let the rote of the boss's orders while in this city run though the silence of his head as the boss walked ahead of him, dressed in the bulky gold armor that the man preferred him in, that Nave rather liked himself. It had been heavy the first time he wore it, but the boss had been right when he had said that he would get used to it. Now it felt like another set of clothes, gleaming bright armor, even if the helm hiding his face was sometimes annoying. It still revealed a lot about what was around him, coloring things in lines of power that let him know what was there, what wasn't, if it was magical. The city was alight with those lines, telling him what was dangerous and not, though he only could remember that red and purple were the worst sometimes. It was hard to keep track of all of the colors that essence came in, let alone the patterns that apparently gave away what they could do.  
  
His boss insisted he'd learn in time, but Nave wasn't sure about that. Especially when he took him here, the only city he had ever been to, where the hustle and bustle was so distracting to a farm boy like him. He was still getting used to seeing the sunburst on his brow after sparring, the stuff he could do now. It was so damn much to remember for him, and sometimes he wished he could complain, but... the boss pretty much told him the rules. He was a guard, the Crimson Guard, and he would be quiet. No one was supposed to know that he had a head, that he could think.  
  
Sometimes he thought that the boss would be happier if he couldn't think.   
  
"Master Kara!" A feminine voice rang out, in rhythmic Old Realm, shaking the young man out of his idle thoughts.   
  
The Crimson Guard could see the boss's jaw clench, and he went stiff, just as he had been taught to be. Be a pillar, a statue. Don't look alive, the armor is supposed to hide his face... A bustle of green passed him and spun about to face the boss, his red eyes narrowed so hard that Nave was dumbstruck that the girl didn't seem afraid. Tall, reddish-brown hair, only a pendant having essence in it. Just a simple long black dress with dust smudged all over, ribbons at her wrists, bright, bright green eyes now wide and curious.  
  
"What is he, Master Kara?" One, two, three. She sounded like she was reciting the words.  
  
"He is... a robot, Petals." The Crimson Guard could feel her eyes sweep up and down him, different from the cold eyes of some of the others. Her green eyes were gentle and questioning, her face unlined like the boss or any of the others he had seen about. A little part of him hoped she was just as new as he was. The girl looked baffled for a moment, mouthing the word. The boss gritted his teeth and answered, "An automaton, you simple-minded oracle."  
  
"Oh." The Guard was surprised at the boss's rudeness, but the girl did not seem upset at all. Instead, she looked pleased. "Robot means automaton?" She clapped her hands with a bright smile. "I have never seen an automaton before! Please, Master Kara, may I please take a look at him?" The girl's energy seemed infectious, something that made the boss seem displeased. "Oh please, I have never seen an automaton close up before!"  
  
"Maybe because you are so idiotic that you wouldn't know one if it bit you on the ass..." The red-eyed man rubbed his temple before sighing. "Fine, I have paperwork to pick up anyways. You can keep an eye on it, just don't touch it." The man snarled and turned away, marching off muttering in more foul Riverspeak.  
  
The two stood there in silence for a moment. Crimson would have felt nervous, especially with what the boss had said about those with the green eyes, but... She seemed nice. The girl was almost as tall as him, just as broad, but he knew he could take her if needed. He was hoping he wouldn't need to. There was something regal about her, a way she smiled without fear at him, that made him feel a little more at ease. The boss had been confident she wasn't a threat, why else would he have left him with her?  
  
She tugged on his arm. Automatically, he turned his head towards her, praying that he had jerked just exactly right to make it look like he was a machine. The girl spoke in the same fluent Old Realm as before, her hand still on the scarlet talbard he was wearing.  
  
"I know you are a person." Green eyes smiled as she tilted her head with a giggle. "You do not walk like a robot, there's no gears, no whirling. You rise and fall." She stepped back, putting her hands behind her back, possibly for a weapon- And the Sidereal giggled, holding up it back up with nothing in it. "You jumped. You think." Another footstep brought her closer, her body a whisper away from his armor. After a moment of silence, her face fell, and he noticed a thousand little dots in her eyes, all the color of her irises, all quivering as if they were to cry with her. "You must be alone."  
  
She was right. How often had he stood there, watching people, the boss never talking to people, never talking to him unless to give him commands? Crimson would have liked a time to sit down and eat with someone, instead of hurried minutes stuffing something down to make sure no one could see him doing it, the silence that seemed so empty compared to back home...  
  
He nodded, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.  
  
"My name is Petals." The brilliant expression on her face made his small mistake, breaking character, worth it. "Petals Around the Rose. I am a Sidereal. You are not supposed to speak, are you?" The Dawn nodded, wishing he could remove his helmet to smile back at her. She seemed to understand.  
  
"May I touch you?" The Sidereal put her hands behind her back again, rocking on her heels as she looked down the hall. "He told me not to." The girl's smile shifted from the blissful innocence she had before into a mischievous guile as she spoke, "But it is you. You have say. May I?"  
  
The Crimson Guard worked his jaw for a moment, before hearing the answer from his mouth, a little raspy from dryness, echoing slightly in his helmet. "Yes." The word sounded off to him, after months of being mostly quiet. Petals nodded and she reached for his helmet, deftly but slowly clicking off latches, biting her lip as he more of felt than heard the catches being undone. The girl pulled off the helmet and her face lit up.  
  
"Hold still." She knelt down to quietly set the orichalcum helm down, fiddling with something before standing up again, pushing away strands of his brown hair with one hand while the other passed over his head, trailing a ribbon the color of a fully unripened tomato, draping it around his shoulders. "Don't lose this ribbon. I like it a lot." The silken strip felt comfortable as she tied it around his neck, her pale hands as gentle as her voice as she spoke. Crimson was beginning to worry before Petals spoke. "He isn't coming back yet." She knelt down again after finishing the bow around his neck and beginning to put the helmet back on with the same careful, muffled clicks.  
  
She leaned in, and he felt two firm weights wrap around his waist and pull forward, strong arms holding him as she embraced him and just stood there, holding him, her face hidden by his visor. The Guard put his arms around her own waist, resting his brow on her shoulder, letting out a slow lingering sigh that fogged up the glass that helped conceal his face. The Solar didn't keep track of how long they stood there, but it was too soon when Petals let him go and took three steps back, tilting her head and affecting a baffled stance.  
  
She whispered in a soft voice, "He is coming back now." The green-eyed girl looked sad as she tilted her head the other way, moving to the side closest to the corner to whisper into his ear. "Just promise me something." He turned his head to try to say he was listening.  
  
Her face became close, and she whispered. "Say hello to me tomorrow." With that, he could hear the click of the boss's boots coming closer and Petals moved again to the other side. Crimson moved his head just enough to return to looking straight forward, noticing that in spite of her innocence, she somehow was pulling off acting as if she had not gone against the boss's word. She made it almost seem like she had not put a ribbon about his neck that felt cool against his skin.  
  
The boss looked annoyed, and began to scold her, but Crimson didn't listen, and he could tell Petals didn't care, the little pinpoints in her eyes dancing. They were looking forward to tomorrow.  
  
*  
  
It was quiet.  
  
No sound other than a quiet swish of a brush on paper.  
  
There were the clicks of boots. One, two, three, one, two three- four. Two people. There was no clang. No need to look up, it wasn't who the girl was waiting for.  
  
"Petals?"  
  
Her name. Male, old, tired. The young Exalted looked up from the wooden tablet in her hand, from the bright colors of her papers to the two older Sidereals. Not much hair on top, gray, gray, green, robes of a Monk, eyes, frowning. "Master Chejop." The younger Secrets bowed to the head of her Division, and then to the second person, who was dressed in crimson robes, with dark bloody eyes. "Someone new?"  
  
"Yes, Petals." Chejop nodded with approval. "This is Caoyi. He is from the Realm as well, but he is a few years your junior." Petals bowed to him, smiling, the Shieldbearer smirking. The older Secrets seemed thoughtful for a moment before asking gently. "Petals, I have noticed you keep coming here and doing paperwork every so often. Any particular reason why?"  
  
For a moment, Petals crossed her eyes. She liked thinking about the gold armor man as a friend and a secret. But Master Chejop was a friend too, and he knew lots of Secrets, just like her. The girl smiled. "A friend promised me he would say hello to me tomorrow and I wanted to wait here so he can find me and say hello like he promised." Chejop nodded before a little god came up, Petals bowing to it as well. As the servant lead him off to sign something, the two were left alone, Petals going back to her work.  
  
The red-eyed Sidereal's smirk widened. "How cute." Green eyes flicked up with a cheerful nod. "What's his name? Is he one of us?"  
  
"Nuhuh." Her face fell for a moment, her brow furrowing. "I did not ask." She lit up as she gestured with the brush tip at her eyes. "He had brown eyes. I have not seen a brown Maiden before." She looked down at her work again, wondering why he asked. "He was nice."  
  
"Nice or not, if he isn't one of us, he isn't going to remember, you know." Her brush slowed, the girl looking up with a frown of confusion. "What sort of Sidereal are you? We can't be remembered by anyone who isn't one. Arcane Fate and the broken Mask and all of that other crap. Good luck finding the guy, where ever he is. Especially when you don't even know his name to get his profile."  
  
There was a moment of silence as Petals simply stared at the Battles. Then, the girl turned on her heel, the heavy thud of her boots hard and fast one, two, three before she bolted, a single sob echoing before the blur of green and black turned a corner, passing Chejop as it ran, the elder blinking in bafflement.  
  
"Mnemon Caiyo, what did you do?"  
  
The young man shrunk down, gulping at the mildly displeased expression on the Oracle's face. "I told her about Arcane Fate? I-I mean, you said she was just as new and all and I was t-told that survival is acceptance..." Chejop quietly sighed, patting the Battles' shoulder. "Sir?"  
  
"Never use the sutras to rationalize upsetting another Sidereal, lad. You have to work with them later."  
  
*  
  
There was so much gray. There was color here and there, the pretty bird-egg blue over the mop of sad black strings, the same hiding flame hair, the world grumbling and complaining, no lines brighter than his friends. It was gray and normal and it made him feel less scared to be with Light and Shadow side by side, Light tall and grim and in the same blue as Shadow, but wearing a gold shell like him but she could take it off. Shadow bounced with Light's other cloak on a lanky frame, filled with the same something that made her quicker than a thunder dragon's fist. Shadow was talking, but that was not new.  
  
When didn't she talk? Talking was normal it was not like the crazy place that made his armor too sticky to get off and his face something strange. Shadow insisted it was just funny colored, gold gold and red like he was, the Crimson Guard, and that was him. He was the Crimson Guard, friend to Light In Her Wake and Smiling Shadow. They were all Solars and Light insisted they were once the same a long time ago.   
  
Crimson did not like thinking about it. It made his head hurt and his eyes blur. None of it like the cities he could sort of remember if he tried really hard. It had been never the same there. It was clean and shining and everything was bells and pleasing sounds and breezes and it was never cold and wet there, in either one. He could remember heaviness on his head and he could remember vague petals...  
  
He ran his finger around his collar, feeling the silk fabric around his neck as his feet settled.  
  
Someone as tall as him walked by, the crunch of snow stopping as she turned on her feet and looked at him. Shadow and Light stopped, Shadow was not talking now.   
  
There was green around her neck, just like his, green in her eyes, on her clothes, even in her hair. He always liked green. The bow was like that. He never took it off because he knew something there was important. It was like grass. He hadn't seen grass in the not-a-place either.   
  
Tomorrow.  
  
Oh. The lady was still standing there, her head tilted. Green, green, green, like... like... Who? He decided to try and hoped he wasn't making a mistake.  
  
"Hello, Petals."  
  
One heartbeat. Oh no. Did he mess up-  
  
Her eyes widened, her mouth opening like a fish for a moment before she spoke in the exact same Old Realm as before. "You remembered!" Brighter than Shadow's laugh, blur of green. Crimson Guard could hear the rattle of metal as he was held again, just as strong as before. He let his head rest on her shoulder and let out the breath it felt like he had been holding since he had remembered the bow. After a long moment, he looked to see her face, a huge smile on her face little things different. Her hair was longer and back in a blue bow. He removed the green ribbon.  
  
"You can have this back if you promise me something." She looked at him expectantly. Crimson felt his mouth hurt from his own happiness. "I want blue." He pointed to Shadow and Light, both with funny looks on their faces, with bright blue cloaks. Light only had two. He was in black.  
  
"Will you say hello to me tomorrow?"  
  
  
  
"Yes."


End file.
